Itsuki found a side he never knew existed by playing PSO2. In comes a new transfer student Aika and she's following him everywhere he goes. Even to the boys area where she is not supposed to be. So in this game, the one who had been teaching Itsuki is named SORO, and after getting scolded by him, he stops playing for awhile. As it turns out, Izumi is SORO in the game, and she sees right through Itsuki's bluff. And as it turns out, the reason why Izumi is getting Itsuki to play is to prove that it's possible to play games and keep up with studies. Well, things make sense now as to why this project had been going on. There's something about Aika seeing that she had been tailing Itsuki everywhere he went.

Suzuki forgot to mention that one of her background specialties is stalking.

Awkward first half. The cheesy dream and stuff was cringe worthy. Also, Suzuki got a weird nickname. Ai-ai? Lol. The story still feels messy and needs improvement. On the positive side, I kinda like Suzuki's battle outfit design inside the PSO2 world. Suzuki is someone that I find hard to trust.

Well I quite enjoyed episode 2, this time there was definitely a greater focus on character development. Nobody has revealed any sort of complicated and convoluted backstory yet but now there's a clearer sense of where the main characters stand in relation to one another. This episode also introduced Suzuki, for someone with the personality of an emotionless robot she's a surprisingly interesting character. Suzuki obviously has her secrets (who knows, at this point she might actually be some kind of android!) and her behaviour borders on downright creepy at points; it will be interesting to see what her end game actually is, both for Phantasy Star Online 2 itself and everyone in the physical world at the school.

Once again, we start the episode off with high school hi-jinks. This time, the anime goes with introducing the "blonde-haired Japanese student that was studying abroad but is now transferring in" trope that we see way too often. Worse how she's an oddball that does things she's not supposed to, like following Itsuki into the boys room and sneaking into his dorm room.

Almost 11 minutes in and we're finally seeing Itsuki getting back into the game...and there's a commercial break. Once the episode comes back, Itsuki and SORO have returned from their mission and SORO chews out Itsuki...only to then cut back to real world Itsuki, moping around and having his friend explain he should learn to dodge and block.

I'm sorry, but why? Why did we need to go back to the real world to have explained what Itsuki did wrong and not actually see him taking part in the mission with SORO? Why would SORO, a veteran player, not explain AS THEY PLAY how to dodge or block if SORO is supposed to be Itsuki's partner? Why in the world would anyone start moping around because they got yelled at in-game?

Ugh. Also, for what it's worth, there are no "big name players that everyone knows in the game" in actual PSO2. This is pretty much another trope that we often see in MMORPG anime.

Later on, nearly 16 minutes in now, we finally get some in-game play time. SORO has gone off soloing in Hard mode...is grunting in exhaustion and has his weapon knocked away. I'm sorry, but is this supposed to be an actual world or did the writers forget none of that can actually happen in the game? Yes, characters shout and grunt, but not gasp for air and what not. This is where this would have been fine if they had...you know, actually made this anime around the actual world of PSO2 and not it being a game.

Itsuki shows up in time to help support SORO...with a newer gunblade weapon. He's level 15 and still uses a gunblade-type weapon. On top of that, the fighting is done with low quality CG with very few frames of animation. Itsuki and SORO return (nice touch on the idling player standing around on a ledge, this was an actual humorous touch) and go to one of Quna's concerts in-game. Itsuki asks why SORO became his friend, SORO says people call him aloof, Itsuki says he'll call him by his name and SORO simply brushes it off, with Itsuki being content with having his question completely dodged. Concert is cut off by going back to Itsuki delivering his report.

And here we find out that the whole point to Itsuki's reports are to show how fun and important PSO2 is to the students...because the school wants to ban online games, seeing them as a distraction from their academics.

So I ask again...why wasn't the game just adapted into an anime instead of making an anime about high school kids playing a game to deliver a report to keep their school from banning online games?! I'm utterly dumb-founded as to why they thought this was a good idea. The PSO world (and PS in general) is FULL of interesting stories and characters that could have easily been adapted into animated form, yet we somehow got an anime about kids playing a game, which we BARELY see much of, and when we do, it's so horribly dull and bordering on just being flat-out boring. I still don't care about the characters. Nothing is really being done to get players actually interested in the game, because NONE of the actual specifics are being explained. Suzuki states at the end that she's mastered three classes, yet we never got any explanations on either of them, which is a VERY important thing if you want to get people invested in your game.

It's astounding how there are multiple MMORPG anime that aren't actually based on any existing games and somehow do a better job of showing off the in-game worlds, races, classes and rules within the first episode, while putting the real world in the back seat. This isn't even advertising for PSO2 because we barely see much of it.

This needs to be fixed, big time. Because it's apparent all this is is a way to push people to buy the DVDs/BDs since they're including codes for use in the actual game and the only ones who might buy them are the extreme die-hards. As someone who's played PSO since the Dreamcast days, I am just not enjoying this one bit.

Guess the way SORO scolded him reminded me of how other veteran players go nuts when noobs mess up in games. Reminds me of stories in MMOs where players that are new meet a veteran player and they messed up few times the veteran player gets mad and many times they don't even tell the new player what to do and what they are doing wrong.

And as for Suzuki, why I get the feeling I may not like her. I'm on the fence for her for now.

So I ask again...why wasn't the game just adapted into an anime instead of making an anime about high school kids playing a game to deliver a report to keep their school from banning online games?! I'm utterly dumb-founded as to why they thought this was a good idea. The PSO world (and PS in general) is FULL of interesting stories and characters that could have easily been adapted into animated form, yet we somehow got an anime about kids playing a game, which we BARELY see much of, and when we do, it's so horribly dull and bordering on just being flat-out boring. I still don't care about the characters. Nothing is really being done to get players actually interested in the game, because NONE of the actual specifics are being explained. Suzuki states at the end that she's mastered three classes, yet we never got any explanations on either of them, which is a VERY important thing if you want to get people invested in your game.

It's astounding how there are multiple MMORPG anime that aren't actually based on any existing games and somehow do a better job of showing off the in-game worlds, races, classes and rules within the first episode, while putting the real world in the back seat. This isn't even advertising for PSO2 because we barely see much of it.

This needs to be fixed, big time. Because it's apparent all this is is a way to push people to buy the DVDs/BDs since they're including codes for use in the actual game and the only ones who might buy them are the extreme die-hards. As someone who's played PSO since the Dreamcast days, I am just not enjoying this one bit.

Personally, as fan of Phantasy Star Online since the Dreamcast days and a fan of Phantasy Star since the Mega Drive days I'm enjoying this anime. As a franchise Phantasy Star has always sought out innovative new directions, the existence of Phantasy Star Online 2 the anime is no different. I'm honestly glad that this show contains a prominent physical world element, rather than trying to re-tread pre-existing storylines that the games themselves have already covered. Furthermore, I’m greatly pleased that this anime doesn’t hide the fact that it’s basically overt propaganda for Sega. It reminds me of the old days, when Sega’s aggressive marketing campaigns took the whole games industry by storm.

You see, this is why it’s wrong to misconstrue Phantasy Star Online 2 as some sort of ‘style over substance’ anime – the style is the substance. This show is about reinforcing ideological underpinnings for the whole Phantasy Star Online 2 community, the actual communality for the real game, as it is about the story of the characters in the anime. So, notions about ‘playing the game every day and not falling behind in your studies’ and ‘meeting good friends through an online game’ are powerful messages; ones that Sega would like anyone watching this show to take to heart. MMORPGs come and go but Phantasy Star Online 2 has already stood the test of time, with care and attention the game can quite easily endure for the next decade.

To that end, I say that the Phantasy Star Online 2 anime is already doing its part. This show doesn’t even have to sustain itself; it’s designed to supplement the game itself. Should Sega decide that the anime resonates with the Phantasy Star Online player base then a second season could be green-lit, in time for a new Episode of the MMORPG. Naturally this all depends on how the current season of the anime ends, the emergence of game elements into the anime’s physical world could certainly create an interesting dynamic and perhaps a rather definitive conclusion. Of course, all this, including the fate of the anime’s main characters, remains to be seen.

In all honesty, I actually enjoyed most of this episode. When the show isn't trying to sell you "PSO2" it's actually not that bad. Sure, it's nothing really special or amazing, but it's fairly solid with some decently likable characters.

I wouldn't say it's bad. I can definitely understand the criticisms from the fans of the game, but this seems more average than plain terrible. But hey, maybe from the viewpoint of a dedicated fan of the game, this might appear disappointingly average, and consequently makes them view it as worse than it actually is.

Personally, I like... most of it. The characters are fun, and the story... uh... I mean, is the story for the MC to just create a good report on the game, so that the school won't end up banning it, and possibly harming whatever service it was that the game came with? Well... The characters are somewhat fun, at least... It does seem like the anime can't quite make up it's mind on whether it wants to give more focus to the game, or the standard high school life scenario. But even if this does end up with more focus on the school aspect than necessary, then it will just be another one of many, but with some pretty alright scenes in the game world. Still enjoyable, though.

But yeah... That ignorance on basic gaming terms was pretty unbearable,